I'm not going to get too involved as to whether it is better in the long term to continue with this platform or to migrate to a (potentially) cheaper alternative. I'm sure that, between yourself and a few others, the right decisions will be made.
The important thing, to me at least, is the people - and their photos.
Hopefully, if I can ever get retired from work, I'll be a bit more active on the site!
Don't worry - we will cope. Actually, I had this from someone else over there and they paid me via my personal paypal and then I paid into the bank account. If you want to do that, send me a private message and I'll reply with my paypal email address.
That's very generous, but it shouldn't need one person to fund it all. I'm really glad you all think it's worth continuing. I think we have a very unique forum and a good set friends.
I agree with Alan that we shouldn't depend on one person to fund it all. I'm happy to contribute, I just made my April contribution this week. (Which I forgot about until this thread went up.) I've seen it happen where a group collapsed after the single donor that they depended on died in an auto accident. (Not that I'm suggesting something like that is going to happen!). Let's see if we can sustain this as a group.
I would hate to see us lose this little village where we can share and talk about our photos in a pleasant atmosphere. I am able to contribute a modest donation towards that end.
BUT - I am worried about option 1 as a long term solution. If Bob and/or Martin is not going to update the site, and no one else has the skills/authority to do it, what guarantee do we have that the site won't eventually self destruct anyway, and what we pay to keep it going would be in vain? I have been in a painfully similar situation with a forum site that self destructed when the platform got to the point that it had to be updated or it wouldn't work, and the person who had maintained it ghosted us. And no one else had the skills/credentials to update it. We lost it.
Option 3 looks painful, but it may be the better option in the long haul. No one wants to get used to another new interface. Losing all we've created these past few years would hurt. But for the long term safety of this effort, it may be in our best interests to move (again).